What is the plan?

[Mainstreet]

Talking about another trade acquisition, Tyler Johnson is really helping the Suns almost as much as Oubre.

He brings stability to the point guard position, something the Suns have desperately needed, and taking a load off Booker.

Here are some excerpts from a Duane Rankin article:



He's brought some stability at a position that has plagued the Suns since the offseason. Coach Igor Kokoskov knew there would be an adjustment period, but Johnson's impact is beginning to crystallize.

"As the game goes on, he's more comfortable with the stuff that we're running, with the alignments, with the personnel on the courts," Kokoskov said Wednesday. "He's impacted the game in so different ways. I want him to make every shot he takes, but there are so many other ways he impacts the game. His toughness, his guarding the ball. He's quiet, but his game is very, very loud."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I get to get off the ball a lot more now," Booker said. "I play a little bit more of my natural position, work off of screens instead of walking the ball up the court and then you have the whole defense lock in to you. So playing off the ball some, getting out in transition. But we both do it -- sometimes he runs the floor, I kick it out to him, and vice versa. It's a positionless game. ... That's how basketball should be played. Everybody can do a little bit of everything on the court."

While his stats have stayed fairly consistent, Booker says a big difference in having Johnson run the point is that he feels the healthiest he's felt all season



https://www.azcentral.com/story/spo...embed&utm_medium=news&utm_campaign=storylines

 

[sdscard4]

I'll be happy once we have an executive of basketball operations....GM and new coach. This team can take off once this happens. Would love a new owner but it ain't happening

 

[Chaplin]

xc_hide_links_from_guests_guests_error_hide_media

 

[JCSunsfan]

If Tyler Johnson is not the answer for a long term pg to play along side Booker, he certainly has the TYPE of game we should be looking for in that pg.

 

[GatorAZ]

xc_hide_links_from_guests_guests_error_hide_media

All that matters is he’s better than Rhyno

 

[Yuma]

I think the whole Oubre trade boils down to, was it down purposefully, or did our GM just luck into a good result?

 

[Hoop Head]

I think the whole Oubre trade boils down to, was it down purposefully, or did our GM just luck into a good result?

I'd agree with that. To think that he lucked into it though would also mean that there weren't other options available. There was a lot of chatter about a number of the teams making a play for Ariza. I don't recall Washington being mentioned as a potential destination as it was mainly playoff teams looking to acquire him like Philadelphia, Houston, Lakers, and others but clearly Washington was interested. Gambo said 8 teams had called about him.

The Suns knew they were dealing him and Ariza knew he was being dealt. News coming out of a trade falling part was news but it wasn't unexpected as far as we had to break the news to Ariza that he was on the block or anything like that. Washington screwed up their relationship with Rivers and Oubre by their mess though and neither was told before hand that the team was shopping them. The Suns could have gone another way and so could the Wizards but we weren't forced to make a deal happen right away like Washington kind of was, which is why they no longer asked for picks like they were getting from Memphis.

 

[AzStevenCal]

I think the whole Oubre trade boils down to, was it down purposefully, or did our GM just luck into a good result?

I'd say, both. It was done purposefully but 'twas luck that killed the original deal.

 

[BC867]

Talking about another trade acquisition, Tyler Johnson is really helping the Suns almost as much as Oubre.

He brings stability to the point guard position, something the Suns have desperately needed, and taking a load off Booker.

Here are some excerpts from a Duane Rankin article:

While his stats have stayed fairly consistent, Booker says a big difference in having Johnson run the point is that he feels the healthiest he's felt all season.

To the posters who criticized my opinion early in the season that playing the Point was wearing Booker down and contributing to his ailments and missing time, there it is right from the horse's mouth.

It is a shame that Suns management looked the other way and took the easy way out. That is why I found it so frustrating.

 

[Mainstreet]

To the posters who criticized my opinion early in the season that playing the Point was wearing Booker down and contributing to his ailments and missing time, there it is right from the horse's mouth.

It is a shame that Suns management looked the other way and took the easy way out. That is why I found it so frustrating.

I can't think of a poster who didn't think the Suns needed a point guard. They will still need to add a point guard in the offseason.

I don't think it hurts Booker to play both roles... shooting guard and point guard if he gets some help. Booker wasn't getting the help from the other point guards so he had to do everything. This is the issue not that Booker cannot do both.

What Tyler Johnson has done is compliment Booker by being able to handle the ball, distribute and shoot which keeps defenses honest.

 

[JCSunsfan]

I can't think of a poster who didn't think the Suns needed a point guard. They will still need to add a point guard in the offseason.

I don't think it hurts Booker to play both roles... shooting guard and point guard if he gets some help. Booker wasn't getting the help from the other point guards so he had to do everything. This is the issue not that Booker cannot do both.

What Tyler Johnson has done is compliment Booker by being able to handle the ball, distribute and shoot which keeps defenses honest.

Booker is clearly more effective as a pure two. It helped him to add some distributing skills, but I am glad he can get back to playing sg and not trying to force passes. That one sentence sounds odd, and does not seem to make sense. BC seems to think Booker is saying he is healthier now that he is playing the two again, but that has only been a short time. It seems to me what he is saying that playing the two AND being healthy were both big factors in his 40 point game.

 

[Mainstreet]

Booker is clearly more effective as a pure two. It helped him to add some distributing skills, but I am glad he can get back to playing sg and not trying to force passes. That one sentence sounds odd, and does not seem to make sense. BC seems to think Booker is saying he is healthier now that he is playing the two again, but that has only been a short time. It seems to me what he is saying that playing the two AND being healthy were both big factors in his 40 point game.

The argument is not that Booker is not more effective as a shooting guard. Booker is better as a shooting guard at this stage of his career.

BC continues to make the old and much discussed argument that Booker is not physically able to play point guard and shooting guard. Many NBA guards are able to play both roles.

The issue as I see it, the reason for Booker's fatigue was not getting any help in the backcourt until the addition of Tyler Johnson. This was the reason for his fatigue... not that he cannot do both.

 

[Mainstreet]

In the link below there is an article with video which shows many of the situations Booker encounters as an offensive player including double and triple teams.

It's fun just watching the video portions.

http://arizonasports.com/story/1858135/devin-booker-scoring-phoenix-suns/

 

[JCSunsfan]

The argument is not that Booker is not more effective as a shooting guard. Booker is better as a shooting guard at this stage of his career.

BC continues to make the old and much discussed argument that Booker is not physically able to play point guard and shooting guard. Many NBA guards are able to play both roles.

The issue as I see it, the reason for Booker's fatigue was not getting any help in the backcourt until the addition of Tyler Johnson. This was the reason for his fatigue... not that he cannot do both.

I think BC is making the argument that Booker's injury problems are related to wear and tear from him playing the pg position. Maybe I am saying the same thing that you are. The quote about the game seems to me to be saying that good health and moving back to a more conventional SG role were both contributing factors to his 40 point game.

 

[JCSunsfan]

I am surprised at Tyler's ability to move into the pg role. He is naturally more of a shooting guard. But he has nearly doubled his assist numbers while taking good care of the ball and ball-hawking on defense. If he can get his assists up into the 6-7 range, he is nearly perfect to play alongside Book.\

Right now he is getting 10 pts, 4 ast, .9 TO, and hawkish defense. His shooting numbers dropped a little, but I think that will even out. A 4:1 A/TO ration is excellent for a pg.

 

[Mainstreet]

I am surprised at Tyler's ability to move into the pg role. He is naturally more of a shooting guard. But he has nearly doubled his assist numbers while taking good care of the ball and ball-hawking on defense. If he can get his assists up into the 6-7 range, he is nearly perfect to play alongside Book.\

Right now he is getting 10 pts, 4 ast, .9 TO, and hawkish defense. His shooting numbers dropped a little, but I think that will even out. A 4:1 A/TO ration is excellent for a pg.

I think we are getting a preview with Tyler of what Booker would look like paired with a player like Brogdon who can play both roles... point guard and shooting guard.

I'd like to have a pure point guard next to Booker but I'm not sure it is necessary if both guards can distribute and score.

 

[BC867]

I can't think of a poster who didn't think the Suns needed a point guard. They will still need to add a point guard in the offseason.

I don't think it hurts Booker to play both roles... shooting guard and point guard if he gets some help. Booker wasn't getting the help from the other point guards so he had to do everything. This is the issue not that Booker cannot do both.

What Tyler Johnson has done is compliment Booker by being able to handle the ball, distribute and shoot which keeps defenses honest.

Yup, Booker himself said this is the best he has felt all season because he no longer has to bring the ball up the court.

I am sure that his not having to guard Point Guards in included. Having Book as as a distributing Shooting Guard is a plus.

 

[1Sun]

I think we are getting a preview with Tyler of what Booker would look like paired with a player like Brogdon who can play both roles... point guard and shooting guard.

I'd like to have a pure point guard next to Booker but I'm not sure it is necessary if both guards can distribute and score.

We still need a much better point guard than Tyler Johnson.

 

[BC867]

The argument is not that Booker is not more effective as a shooting guard. Booker is better as a shooting guard at this stage of his career.

BC continues to make the old and much discussed argument that Booker is not physically able to play point guard and shooting guard. Many NBA guards are able to play both roles.

The issue as I see it, the reason for Booker's fatigue was not getting any help in the backcourt until the addition of Tyler Johnson. This was the reason for his fatigue... not that he cannot do both.

Many can, but Book did not excel, what with the bad passes. And a key point would be his help in the backcourt is from a starter, to alleviate Devin of that responsibility, rather than from bench players, as was the case for too long.

I agree that Tyler Johnson is not the ultimate solution, but it shows how bad we were that he has been the only cure this season.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Many can, but Book did not excel, what with the bad passes. And a key point would be his help in the backcourt is from a starter, to alleviate Devin of that responsibility, rather than from bench players, as was the case for too long.

I agree that Tyler Johnson is not the ultimate solution, but it shows how bad we were that he has been the only cure this season.

Tyler might be a lot better than we are giving him credit for being. There are not many pure pg's in the league these days. Booker is 13 in the league in assists right now. And include above him are Lebron, Draymond, and other non point guards.

 

[SunnyBaller]

The team doesn't necessarily need a true point guard they just need a good combo guard that is comfortable taking the ball up the court is a playmaker and can set up ayton or Booker for wide open jump shots, Tyler during his good games shows the difference that makes for this team and it's easily a 10+ win difference next year if they can get someone competent

 

[1Sun]

The team doesn't necessarily need a true point guard they just need a good combo guard that is comfortable taking the ball up the court is a playmaker and can set up ayton or Booker for wide open jump shots, Tyler during his good games shows the difference that makes for this team and it's easily a 10+ win difference next year if they can get someone competent

Tyler's good games are few and far between. Brogdon and Russell are the closest the Suns can come to not having a true point guard next to Booker. Over the long haul, Tyler won't give us any more at the point than pre-injury Canaan gave us, and that's not nearly enough.

 

[95pro]

Two combo guards have show to work in the NBA, we used to have a few around here somewhere that were effective.

 

[1Sun]

Two combo guards have show to work in the NBA, we used to have a few around here somewhere that were effective.

The problem is that Tyler is not a combo guard, and neither is Booker. Both are straight-up shooting guards, and Tyler is a mediocre one at that.

 

[SunnyBaller]

Tyler's good games are few and far between. Brogdon and Russell are the closest the Suns can come to not having a true point guard next to Booker. Over the long haul, Tyler won't give us any more at the point than pre-injury Canaan gave us, and that's not nearly enough.

I wasn't advocating keeping Tyler I'm just pointing out we don't have to try and find a true PG just a combo guard, we need someone who can consistently play at his "good game" level